For the record, I don’t condone the deployment of the emergency slide or essentially stealing beer. I am only commenting on his blow-up over the loud speaker.

I think that anyone who has had the pleasure of dealing with the public in a service type position (cashier, waiter, Disney cast member, project manager, bartender) would sympathize with this guy.

I definitely had visions of voicing my frustration over the loud speaker at CVS. One particular incident that nearly drove me to the edge was on Christmas Eve and a customer was literally screaming in my face because we had run out of gift bags. It was 5:30 on Christmas Eve, nothing like waiting till the last minute.....I digress.

Working with the “general public” is very challenging not mentally challenging but a never ending experiment with patience and restraint. Clearly this flight attendant had reached the end of that experiment and I can’t fault him for the blow up (again, not the deployment of the slide, just the verbal outburst).

I was watching a great show My Boys a few weeks ago and there was a quote that really rang true for me “Everyone should be forced to marry ketchup bottles, there would be less war”. If you don’t know what “marrying ketchup bottles” is, you never worked in a restaurant.

The point is (yes, I have one) that a person can only stand so much abuse and frustration. Being treated like crap by people gets old and eventually that frustration will come out and I think that it could be helpful for the customer who caused this situation to see and hear that. To see a flight attendant (waiter, cashier) as a real person not just someone doing a task for you.

We could all stand to be a little nicer and more polite. I will say that I always make a point to thank the person who bags my groceries. It won’t stop me from thinking they are moron when I find that they put all of the heaviest items I bought in one bag that ended up weight 21 lbs, but I was nice to her face. I am sure she won’t remember my saying thank you, but that is okay because I didn’t make her day any more difficult and she didn’t come over the loud speaker and curse me out. Everyone is a winner!